The Fix: June 22, 2008 - June 28, 2008

Jamal Simmons, a regular presence on cable television, is joining the Democratic National Committee as a communications consultant -- the latest in a series of moves to install loyalists of Barack Obama within the national party organization. Simmons will be...

Another week in political Washington has ended. But, don't despair! Because if it's Friday, it's time for "Who Won the Week?" -- the game where we ask Fixistas to put on their analyst hats (or helmets, if you prefer)...

The unity huddle today in Unity (get it?), New Hampshire, between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is sure to stir talk of the so-called "Dream Ticket." Earlier this week we argued the case for Clinton to be picked as...

Less than five months remain before the November election and slowly but surely the outlines of the national playing field are coming into focus. var statesmap = new SWFObject("http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/statesmap.swf", "statesmap", "290", "240", "8", "#ffffff"); statesmap.addVariable("stateList", "co,fl,ia,mi,nh,nm,nv,pa,oh,va"); statesmap.addParam("wmode","transparent"); statesmap.addParam("AllowScriptAccess", "Always"); statesmap.write("resultstatesmap");...

While the focus of the new battleground polls conducted for washingtonpost.com is rightly on the presidential race, there are also interesting data in them regarding Senate races in Minnesota and Colorado. Highlights From Survey There's a bit of good news...

Today's Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's ban on handguns this morning is dominating the headlines. But does it have political consequences? Yes and no. There's little doubt that in the last few years Democrats on a national...

One of the most interesting findings from polls conducted in the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado is the significant number of people -- including a surprising share of Democrats and independents -- who believe that former president...

Barack Obama leads John McCain in four key battleground states, according to new survey conducted by Quinnipiac University for washingtonpost.com and the Wall Street Journal. Obama leads 49 percent to 44 percent in Colorado and 48 percent to 42 percent...

The Fund For America, a Democratic-aligned group organized to disburse contributions from wealthy individuals to progressive organizations, will close its doors Thursday. The announcement is expected to be made tomorrow; the decision will be attributed to the difficult environment for...

An embattled incumbent tying himself to presidential nominee is nothing new in politics. But it's usually the case that the presidential nominee being latched onto is actually of the same political party. Not so in Sen. Gordon Smith's (R-Ore.) latest...

Even as Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton plan for their first joint appearance of the general election campaign on Friday, the New York senator is beginning a formal push to erase the substantial debt accrued during the primaries. In...

There is no person on either side of the veepstakes more speculated about than Hillary Rodham Clinton. And, with Clinton and Barack Obama set to appear together twice in the next two days -- tomorrow at a D.C. fundraiser, Friday...

Burns Strider, a former senior aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, has opened his own consulting shop with the goal of bridging the gap between faith and values voters and the Democratic party. "By communicating shared values and delivering...

Could positive developments on the ground in Iraq force Barack Obama to reconsider his position on the war in Iraq? And, if so, how would such a reconsideration impact the current dynamic between Obama and John McCain? A Saturday front...

UPDATE, 10:15 a.m.: Proving that they believe they can fight and beat Republicans on the issue of terrorism, Barack Obama's campaign held a conference call this morning featuring Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the 9/11 Commission. On the call, Ben-Veniste...

Regular Fix readers know that we have spent quite a bit of time trying to understand the degree to which Barack Obama's race is a factor in the general election campaign to come. As we noted in a recent post,...

The coverage of Barack Obama's decision last week to forego public financing for the general election centered on the fact that the Illinois senator is almost certain to have a considerable spending edge in the fall campaign over John McCain....

Looking to see "Who Won the Week"? Scroll to the bottom of the post for answers. But first, the big news this week is the private and public get-togethers featuring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The festivities start Thursday...

If it's not already, David Broder's Sunday column in the Post should be required reading for anyone who calls himself a political junkie. The Dean of the political press corps, Broder has been setting conventional wisdom in campaigns for longer...